We
are the oldest and one of the few families in the
world to still use the very Irish surname of
O'Kelley and our family tradition story and
records prove that our ancestor arrived in America
before 1750 AD using "O Kelley" as
his surname and when we appear as Kelly in some
early records it is due to the unfamiliarity of
Irish names by the person recording our name and in
some cases it might be due to the English efforts
that began in the 16th century to intentional
suppress Irish surnames. For two and one
half centuries in America generations of my family
have passed down our name, our story, and records
and much survives today. Few
have such a
rich family history. Few have a signature of
their 3rd great grandfather born in 1795 in our
National Archives proving the spelling of our
surname.

Educator and family historian
Alethea Jane Macon at the age of 87 published
her book
"Four
O’Kelley Sons and Some of their Descendants
– Allied Families" in 1969 resulting in a dispute about
the forename of my immigrant ancestor but his
surname has never been disputed it has always been
claimed that he arrived in America as a
Protestant O'Kelley having descended from "Old
Irish Kings" and his descendents scattered
over many states and all research slow and manual
this is understandable that not everyone in my
family would be in agreement. The Internet
gives me considerable advantage. DNA, records,
and tradition stories make it certain this
disagreement over my ancestor's forename came from
two stories handed down for generations, one naming
"Thomas" as our first Protestant Ancestor and the
other story naming "James" as our Protestant
Ancestor to leave Ireland and come to America before
1750 AD and 200 years and 5 or maybe 6 generations
separate these two men but without providing
evidence
Alethea Jane Macon's book confused Thomas
and James into a single ancestor that she believed
was named Thomas. It is from a
family pedigree create in 1904 and written in
the hand of
Dr Thomas K
O'Kelley and passed down to his great
great granddaughter
Judith Knowles
Ries my 6th cousin that comes the names
James O'Kelley
and Anna Dean and their first born son the famous
Rev James O'Kelly, Charles, Thomas, Elizabeth,
Polly Ann, Benjamin, Francis, and George. This
great family treasure predates the
Alethea Jane Macon Pedigree by more than 60
years but it doesn't stand alone as
Mary Evelyn
O'Kelley my 4th cousin 1x removed wrote
her 1960 college paper about our ancestors and she
names our ancestor as
James O'Kelley
and his six sons that most migrated to Georgia.

My
four year investigation based in DNA, records, and
tradition stories concludes that everyone who is
blood related to me descend from
Aed of
Slaine a Monarch of Ireland in the 6th
Century and I believe in that time until the death
of
Teige Mor O'Kelly at the Battle of Clontarf in
1014 that the hill of
Slaine and
of
Tara were of Ui Maine a Kingdom
that began at the Irish Sea in the east and extended
west to Galway bay and we are the
O'Kelley of Bregia which is pronounced and
sometimes appears written as "Brey" and my
ancestors lived
next to
Tara the place for the coronation of the
Monarchs of Ireland.
Conglach O'Kelley who died 1292 AD was the last
known "Lord" and the English invasion a century
before reduced and scattered the
O'Kelley of Bregia so low that they were no
longer a recognizable Sept when my ancestor left
Ireland about 1748 and Ui Maine was confined to Co
Roscommon and Galway with the knowledge of its much
larger border lost. Just as our family
tradition claims, our first protestant ancestor was
Tomas O
Ceallaigh, pronounced "Thomas O'Kelley" and he
was a "Gentleman", a man of land and title and was
born in Ireland about 1540 AD and to appease
the English he converted to Anglican and took an
English styled surname as he appears as Thomas Kelly
in the Survey of 1591 with land near Glaslough Co
Monaghan Ireland and he is likely the son of
William Kelly Gentleman Dublin and the Grandson
of
Thomas Kelly also of Dublin. His son
William also a Gentleman and Protestant appears
in 1640 and again in1641 records in
Carrikmacross Co Monaghan and William's son
Thomas O Kelly, Gentleman and Protestant is
found in the 1663 records in the same place.
This
Thomas O Kelly 's grandson
William
Kelly, Merchant and Gentleman is found in the
Prerogative Wills of Ireland leaving a Will in Kells
Co Meath Ireland in 1748 and I believe it was
William's death that caused our ancestor
James O'Kelley
and his wife
Nancy "Anna" Dean
and their son the future Rev James O'Kelly to leave
Kells
Co Meath Ireland and settle in the portion of
King and Queen County that become Caroline Co
Virginia near
James O'Kelley
's older brother
William
Kelley who like their father was also a merchant
but in Virginia.
Nancy "Anna" Dean
died about 1758 and James married her younger sister
Elizabeth Dean
and
James
died
at the
Battle of Brandywine Sept 11 1777
and over the 200 years that followed our ancestors
stories became corrupted and lost.

From
Ruth Barton Pullium
my 4th cousin 2x removed comes our family tradition
story handed down to her father from her
grandmother Salina
O'Kelley who was the granddaughter of
Thomas O'Kelley and her story says
that our
ancestors were "prominent" and came from Co
Meath. Ruth's story is
supported by my closest DNA matches making it likely
that my ancestor came from the O'Kelleys who were of
the
Four Tribes of Tara said to once be "Styled
Princes". For them to still have their
Gentry status in the 16th and 17th Century is proof
they came from an Irish Chieftain line and by
following the demands of the English Tudor Monarchs
my family would have been favored over their Irish
Catholic cousins so it is likely my ancestors were a
protestant Sept of the
O'Kelly of Bregia
pronounced "Brey" who are found on the map due east
or those found Northeast of
Tara. My ancestors were a Sept of Bregia
who didn't take to the woods or become outlaws
solely because they changed their faith and received
favored by the English but lost their ancestral
lands and were forced to Co Monaghan. It seems
certain that some of my DNA matches to surnames
other than O'Kelley are O'Kelleys who remained Irish
Catholic and dropped their O'Kelley surnames to
distance themselves from their traitor Protestant
O'Kelley family but just as my family changed their
faith, some may have changed their surname because
it improved their condition to do so and they
maintained good relations with my Protestant family.
Ireland was a war zone for many centuries.

Maybe
the once greatness of my ancestors living in Co Meath Ireland near Kells
and also in Co Monaghan near Carrickmacross and near
Castle Leslie in Glaslough can be discovered as there are likely Irish Kelly
families who are my cousins and they might not know they came from a line of
O'Kelley who were a thousand years ago great "Princes
of Tara" and likely cousins of the
2nd Earl of
Tyrone Hugh "O'Kelley" O Neill but it is also possible they know
much more about my family's story than I know and they can tell us so much more.
For those who always dreamed of taking a trip to Ireland but didn't know where
to go, you have an amazing opportunity to stay in
Castle Leslie and walk a few miles away over the lands our ancestors once
walked five centuries ago. Please click on the
Email Us link to aid our discovery. I hope you enjoy your visit.
Click on my family Coat of Arms to begin your
journey back in time.